Strawberry Season!!!!!

So its that time of year again when strawberries are in full bloom. My daughter Elise is in love with them and eats them every day. So all that I spend in the grocery store I figure why not just go pick them myself. So we did just that yesterday! We went with my MIL(Bryce was in school). It was Elise and mines first time. We had so much fun!!!!!! I was really surprised at Elise! She was picking red ones right along side us! Not eating any till we were done. It was so grown up her.

So I got a little over 10 pounds. That came to 3 2quarts. Now there is no way we can eat all of those is there? So I wanted to learn how to make preserves. I have never canned a thing in my life and wouldn't know where to start! Well my MIL came to the rescue on it! She makes the best ever pickles by the way!!!!! So I grabbed Bryce and trotted over the river and thru the woods and off to Grammy's house I went. She's an amazing teacher and I learned a lot. I'm not to comfortable yet posting directions. Want to do it one time on my mine before I do that. I will post up pics and her recipe though. It was simple really. She swears by Sure Jell and that's what I used. The directions are on the box. So the math is easy as well. 2quarts of strawberries(stems cut off) when mashed should make 5 cups(if not add more mashed till it does). 7 cups sugar and Sure Jell(pectin). That's all I needed! Now that will make 8 half pint jars. I made 2 half pints and 3 pints. I have 2 quarts left I put in the freezer. I will be using that and also making grape at Christmas. At that time I will give full directions.

So here is Bryce taking care of the drippings on the plate. which brings me to leftovers. I can't stand wasting anything! So the little bit in the pot that wouldn't fit in the last jar was put to good use. My SIL (sister in law) left some cream cheese in my MIL's fridge(thanks Kelley!), So we softened some of it and added what was left in the pot. It made a great dip for crackers and the strawberries!

It was so yummy!

So far I have picked,jammed, and dipped strawberries! Do ya think I could do anything more? You bet I can! Now there are some i froze for jams later and a bowl sitting in my fridge. So I still have to take Bryce next week. I won't get 10 pounds again(I hope). I do have something Bryce wants me to do with those, so here are those basic recipes:

Frozen Fruit Bars

2 cups strawberries

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Puree fruit in a blender, add in a tbsp of water or two as needed. Add sugar and lemon juice and blend. Pour into small cups and insert stick. Freeze until solid. Just before eating,remove cups by running warm water over them.

Red strawberry Smoothie

1 cup strawberry yogurt

1/2 cup cranberry cocktail juice

1 1/2 cup strawberries

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Coolest Strawberry I picked!

Natural Remedies

I was looking thru a mag the other day and ran across this. Some this will apply to you and some to others.

 

Morning sickness(for my pregos)

Fresh ginger,go figure! To make a tea just boil a few slices. Also another cool trick was to slice some pieces and throw them in a ice cube tray add water and freeze> then you can just suck on them. Also another one was lemon balm. Now I grow this in my yard. It spreads like crazy every year,so plant some! You can make a tea out of that as well. Maybe even kick it up a notch and combine that wit ginger. Also simple lemon drop candy also works> now this may be for morning sickness but can also work for an upset tummy as well.

 

 

Hiccups

We hear tons of fixes for these, so hear is one more. A tsp of sugar. It says the grains will stop the reflex. Worth a shot.

 

Sleeping

If your having a tough time falling asleep try a hand full of fresh cherries! Not hard to do before bed. They are high in melatonin which is a natural sleep aid. same thing in turkey that helps you sleep. I don't think this is to hard to swallow.

 

Coughing

Always a hard one. It can get really out of hand. Cough drops don't seem to work but so well. So try this, dark chocolate. So not hard to swallow either! It contains theobromine in it. Which is much more effective then codeine.

 

So that's what I found. Some you may already know some you may not. Either way this all good info to have on hand when needed. Why not try these things first before using things that could harm you and are pumped with stuff that you have no idea what it is. With a little online research you can find tons of natural remedies! I invite my readers to leave comments of all the ones they use! I love learning! Also other people might find use from them as well.

 

 

 

Easter Crafting!

Oh how I love to craft and a holiday makes all the best reason to craft! Usually I do a lot of homemade crafting but this year we are planing a family trip over Easter weekend and didn't have time to do a lot. I still did some however. Yesterday we used markers,stickers,glue and glitter to make some wooden Easter bunny masks I got for a  $1 at a craft store. I did Elise's since she's still not so into it yet. I used pink glitter for her and Bryce asked for blue. While those sat to dry Bryce jumped right into painting Easter sun catchers. He just love sun catchers> One of his top 5 favorite crafts. I don't tell Bryce he has to color things a certain way. I prefer him use his own mind. He has a wonderful imagination that love seeing come out of him. He knows what color a bunny should be and I love that his are green! Today however was a blast! My MIL joined us with her niece and nephew she's watching this week. We had a mini crafting party. First and biggest event was coloring Easter eggs. We used food coloring and the basic vinegar water solution. those kids had a blast!!!!! a good friend of mine dropped by and joined in on the fun! I do wire whisks to dunk the eggs. Find this very easy for kids. They had some beautiful eggs!!!!! After a nice lunch break we moved on to baking mini brownies and the kids put a little frosting and jelly beans on those. A super yummy treat to end crafting! After they left and my two were curled up together with a Easter kids movie I went on and used a super hard marble egg coloring kit. They turned out great but weren't that much fun doing. You wore plastic gloves and held the egg in your hand to paint. They also still had to be hot for it to work. Not something I see myself doing again. I like the basic old way of doing eggs! All in all I would have loved to have time to do more crafts but time wasn't on our side. Next year we will do more. I am going off grid as of Friday for # days. I hope everyone enjoys Easter and the quality with there family and kids. I would love to hear about your Easter crafting! Leave comments!!!!!



My son working hard on his crafts!

Kids baking brownies before starting on eggs!

MIL baking brownies and helping with eggs!

Whisk trick!

My marble eggs!

Grow With Me Dress!

I bought this cute lil dress at Kids Kraze for Elise. It was handmade and really cheap. Great steal really! I put her in it about a week ago and tons of people asked me if I had made it. This got me thinking I could so do this! So with help from my MIL(mother in law) I did it! Really it wound up taking 30 min to do. That included pins and sewing. Super easy design. Here's the kicker about the dress, at her age it fits as a dress but the way it ties up top it will also fit as a shirt till at least 6yrs! So I took pics of the whole process in case anyone wanted to make one.

So this is the pattern. You fold the fabric in half that your going to use and put this along the fold and trace and cut. Do this twice. I made it long enough to go to her knees.

This is what it should look like when you open the fold.

So when you start pinning do where the arms are first(the curve) then follow with the bottom(longest). After you sew these parts move to the top. Instead of making it like the other sides tuck it with plenty of room becuse you will be running ribbon thru the top. Make it a lil more then an inch thick. Once you have done this do the exact same to the other piece. Now that both are done put the two fronts together and only sew the sides leaving the bottom open and stop at the arms leaving that up open. Next you will cut a foot and half of silk ribbon. Two pieces.

Next I will teach you a tick my MIL taught me to run ribbon and such things thru fabric. Safety pin one end of the ribbon and bunch fabric up on it then pull. Continue this till its thru. Super fast! Here are pics of that process:

Until it looks like this:

Just again do this to both sides. Do you what I am saying about how it's made? That the way the ribbons are and the top that you can just tie it lose or tight. So this way it can grow with them. Kinda cool huh! I bought a couple different fabric patterns to make her a couple of them. I am willing to make a few for people if they cant make them. I was thinking $10.00 per a dress. Just contact me here. So anyone want to see her wearing it? I thought you would, so here is my beautiful Elise. Sorry she acts silly for the camera.

Trying to get a pic of the ribbons. Isn't she just cute with her dad(Daniel Mason)!

Banana Nut Bread Picture

I was trying to add the picture but ran into a computer issue. So here is the picture that goes along with it!

Banana Nut Bread!!!

Im writing this and munching on some at the same time! Oh so yummy. My kids love banana nut bread as much as I do. for an added treat I always put some local honey on top. Now I usually make only one or two loaves a year but this year has been very different. Only by a freak chance. So every morning Istop at this local lil country store, Thomas Terrace(well known in my area). I love there tea and hotdogs! Ever heard of Moore's Chili? This is its roots. Now one morning last week I was in there(as always) and they had a ton of bananas they were going to throw out! I was like no they are super ripe and perfect for banana bread. I just used the last few the day before to make a loaf. So they sold me close to 50 for $1.00!!!! Major savings! So i took them home and made a dozen and half of loaves. It was alot of baking and took me two days. in no way was I letting that much food go to waste. So i took one back to the store and handed out some to friends and family. Keep one out for us and the rest were put in the freezer for other times. Didn't want to get burnt out on such a good thing. Plus i will have some for fall and winter. At least I don't have to make any for awhile. I have a very simple recipe for it that I would like to share. A good friend gave me a harder one that I haven't tried yet. So once I do I will blog it as well. So if you get the urge to make banana bread after this im giving you mine! Its never failed me>

Banana Nut Bread
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
6 or 8 ripe bananas mashed
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts(I use walnuts)

1)prehaet oven to 350
2)cream shortening,sugar, and cinnamon together in mixing bowl. Add bananas,baking soda,and flour> Mix well(this can take some work,I just keep adding bananas till its right)Stir in nuts
3) Pour batter in greased loaf pan. Bake for one hour, our until browned on top. I double chck with a toothpick trick.

Told you it was super easy! When im doing morethen one loaf I just double it and can get 3 loaves out of it. Of course i also own 5 loaf pans. Hope this inspires everyone to go bake some. Oh and you have to try it with local honey!!!!!!

Spring has sprung and so has my blog!

Hello and welcome to my RaineWood Raine Day Talks!!!!!!! I have so many crafts in my mind that I can't wait to share. Im super excited. I know very little about computers and it took me awhile to figure out how to blog. Anyways, so I have an etsy shop and a link at the bottom of my blog page to that. I also have a facebook page as well. You guessed it its called RaineWood! I love making hemp necklaces and bead necklaces. I think my favorite stone is amber. It really heals you. Something that my crazy non stop kids need. I really hope that everyone enjoys my blog. Right now i feel pretty lonely over here. Like im just writing to myself.

Well now that spring is here along with all this rain it makes me think about rainbows. They really are beyond beautiful. So I've been working on a bunch of rainbow necklaces. I lover color and lots of it!!!!!! It is what warms my soul after a long cold winter. The grass is bright green and the sky is a beaming blue with speaks of yellow and purple flowers dotted all in my yard. Just so much color everywhere! Really gets me up and going. Sitting outside working on necklaces while my kids play and blow bubbles. My attention is grabbed every so often by the cutest giggles and laughs. At night I open doors and sit on my sofa with a cup of hot cat nip tea looking back on the beautiful day and letting my creative juices flow. My kids and there play really inspire me. As i go to Tball and watch Bryce play and see Elise running around and watching the big kids, I think  should maybe start making team necklaces because there is a lot of lil sisters watching there big brothers. they are the Angels this year,red and black. Which happens to also be the local highschool colors. So perhaps this will work well. I am adding a picture. The first one of my two kids. We are at his first Tball practice.